Apple has withdrawn one of its encryption services from British customers
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To educate Cyber Security Manager has called the British government “naive” to demand that Apple add a backdoor to its software – giving Britain’s intelligence agencies the opportunity to grab customer data – and expect the request to remain secret.
Ciaran Martin was the leader of Cyber Security in UK’s Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) and served as the first CEO of the National Cyber Security Center (NCSC) before joining the University of Oxford in 2020. New scientist About reports that the British government has made a hitherto requested Apple to give it access to data stored by any customer anywhere in the world, even if encrypted.
Such orders made in accordance with the Investigation Power Act 2016 are intended to be made secret, but Martin says it is no surprise that details appear to have leaked. “I just think the idea that the type of order against a company like Apple would work secretly was probably naive,” he says.
Neither the Home Office nor Apple have confirmed the existence of the request as it would be illegal and neither responded to a request for comment. But in February, Apple announced that it would not long offer its advanced data protection service designed to safely encrypt skydata, to new users in the UK. “As we have said many times before, we have never built a back door or master key for some of our product, or we will never,” Apple said at the time. The company also reportedly challenges the British order in a legal case that is likely to be heard in secret.
Martin says it is not unusual for governments and industry to collide from security, but that “most major problem men, who are indispensable, are susceptible to some kind of compromise”. He says that several times during his intelligence agency -career he requested that technology companies remove functions used by malicious actors to harm national security or in a criminal business. He refused to give details But said these, we often small, specialized tech providers.
“They would have a new app or something, and it would become a favorite among criminals because of a particular feature and you just say” Look, no, you can do this, “says Martin.” They are small technological pieces that are a bit niche and they are used far – they are abused more than used – and you just say ‘like, come on’, right? “
At the end of the day, he says, the governments must accept that ruining encryption is here to stay. “That ship has sailed,” says Martin. “I think the governments will eventually have to express this. And I suppose in the long term that trying to force the global titans to [US] West Coast doesn’t work. “
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